Pastor Mike's Weblog

Our local Jackson TV affiliate WBBJ is airing a series on blogs and blogging called "The Blogosphere", featuring several blogs here in West Tennessee. It is a series that will run beginning Tuesday April 24 and run on Tuesdays all through May, at the 10:00 PM time slot, or if you miss them, on the next day's 5:30 AM slot. My blog will be featured on Tuesday May 1. My interview with Anchor Brad Douglas was a really fun time of sharing the origin of my blog and how it has morphed from a personal cancer journal to a place for me to share with the world anything and everything, especially matters of faith. Make sure to tune in and watch my segment. (Gee, I hope the camera got my best side.....). If anyone out there has the ability to capture the segment on digital video and post it on YouTube, do that and let me know. I would like to link to it on the blog. Thanks!

Focal Verses: John 13:34-35; 14:15,21-24; 15:9-16

How can we experience yet another senseless tragedy and not be hardened by it? As the killer turned off his humanity to cause irreparable harm, do we turn off ours as well to prevent more of the same?

This is a prayer request from the campus minister at Virginia Tech. Join me in lifting up these concerns before God...

We have been overwhelmed by the support and prayers of our campus ministry family around the nation. Thank you for the emails, calls, and prayers. We obviously can’t respond to them all right now, but know that they have been a huge encouragement. We are doing all we can here to help students walk through the first steps of grief. Here are some prayer requests…

• Pray for the students as names are released today and the reality of connections and relationships bring the grief to another level.
• Pray for the family of Brian, a grad student in our ministry who was killed yesterday. Pray for our alumni and students that were close to Brian as well.
• Praise for a gathering of 300 plus students here last night to pray and begin to walk through the grief process.
• Pray for wisdom for our staff (Laura, Mark, Leah, Susan) and student leaders in all the opportunities that will come through relationships on campus this week.

Again, thank you, thank you so much for all the prayers and encouragement.

Blessings,
Darrell Cook
BCM at Virginia Tech

I am sure a work of encouragement via e-mail assuring them of your prayers would be appropriate and welcome.

Follow these other links for more news about this tragedy:

• Nation reacts to mass killings
• Baptist grad student among 32 victims
• Friends come together for comfort, healing

Check out this great article (a bit long, but good nevertheless) containing excerpts from a discussion of faith between Pastor Rick Warren and atheist Sam Harris. Check out Warren's closing comments:

I believe in both faith and reason. The more we learn about God, the more we understand how magnificent this universe is. There is no contradiction to it. When I look at history, I would disagree with Sam: Christianity has done far more good than bad. Altruism comes out of knowing there is more than this life, that there is a sovereign God, that I am not God. We're both betting. He's betting his life that he's right. I'm betting my life that Jesus was not a liar. When we die, if he's right, I've lost nothing. If I'm right, he's lost everything. I'm not willing to make that gamble.

A must read for those wanting to share their faith effectively.

"Why Do Christians Serve Others?"

Focal Verses: John 13:1,3-10a,12-17

Introduction: Importance is inseparably linked with power in the secular world. The more people we supervise, the more important the world considers us. Jesus rejected this reasoning and revealed an entirely different standard for importance in the Kingdom of God. He said, "The greatest among you will be your servant." (Matthew 23:11). The greatest in the Kingdom of God is not the person served by the most people, but the one who serves the most people. In John 13:1-17 Jesus taught His disciples the importance of humility and service to others.

"What is Jesus doing for us now?"

Focal Verses: John 20:1-18

Opening Activity: Make a list of all the ways people demonstrate with their lives their disbelief that Jesus is alive. Some possible answers are: living for pleasure, putting themselves before others, desire for money, power, control, etc., selfishness, making decisions or choices that are contrary to Scripture, living with no thought of accountability to anyone.

• What are some reasons people live as if Jesus were still in the tomb?
• Do some Christians live as if Jesus were dead? How? Why?

It may come as a surprise that over 75 percent of the U.S. general public believe the biblical account of Jesus literally coming back to life in his physical body. In fact, the survey question read: "The Bible and the Christian faith claim that on the first Easter Sunday, the physical body of Jesus came back to life after being dead since his crucifixion on the previous Friday. Do you believe Jesus literally rose from the dead?" One would presume that born-again Christians believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, and our study supported that assumption; however, our research also revealed that over 75 percent of those claiming to not be born-again also believe in Jesus' resurrection.  - Taken from An Easter Surprise: Majority of Americans Believe in Jesus' Resurrection, from NAMB Center for Missional Research.

If so many believe in the resurrection of Jesus, why does it not affect the way they live?

Check out the newly released Easter research from the North American Mission Board of the SBC. Tell the Easter story frequently and clearly and watch God work!